Enterprise SATA and Near-Line Storage ULTAMUS TM RAID

Transcription

1 Enterprise SATA and Near-Line Storage ULTAMUS TM RAID

2 Near-Line Data: New Rules, New Reasons The past few years have seen considerable changes in how and why data is stored. The reasons behind these changes have led to the introduction of the enterprise class near-line disk drives described in this white paper. The requirement for this new class of disk drives stems from fundamental changes in the business and regulatory environment that drive the need for high performance, cost effective and highly reliable near-line storage. Those drivers are: The Web We have become accustomed to accessing any data about any subject at any time, whether for personal or business reasons. Data has to be online for linking supply chains, performing online transactions, searching for new music or streaming video. This not only drives the need for huge amounts of data to be online, it requires that data is always available in a "reference-able" or near-line state. This near-line or reference-able data not only needs to be instantly and continuously accessible and searchable, it also needs to be protected at levels that match those employed for mission critical data. Government Regulations Across the globe, the regulatory requirements imposed by governments have changed and these changes have resulted in far greater demand for data to be online and rapidly accessible. Data now subject to government regulation must be tracked, protected, secured and globally accessible. Regulations such as SEC 17a-4, Sarbanes Oxley section 404 and HIPAA are driving the need for near-line storage strategies into every organization. Business Continuance Repeatedly, across the globe Mother Nature teaches us that we are not able to control everything we wish. Ensuring that business continues without interruption is a leading priority for IT organizations worldwide. Business continuance has led to the increased use of diskbased solutions for storing a copy of data in a remote site, using disk instead of tape for backup. Disk Storage Growth Storage capacity continues to grow from % per year. Data that was once discarded or archived to tape is now kept online. Users are adopting file formats that generate larger and larger files so the same number of files requires more disk storage. Finally, heightened business continuance demands are driving more copies of data to be stored on disk. ILM Another Acronym ILM (Information Lifecycle Management) is not a new concept. For many years, storage administrators have managed and migrated data across storage tiers as needed. The difference today is that the policy requirements surrounding data access and categorization have changed. The following table outlines the evolution of storage tiering: ILM Data Class Last Gen SAN Next Gen SAN Comments Mission-Critical Enterprise RAID Enterprise RAID Usually replicated to a hot site Business-Critical RAID RAID and other business app Use of SAS for lower cost and HA Departmental DAS/NAS SAN/NAS Storage Area Networking (SAN) rather than direct attached storage (DAS) Snapshots & replication of departmental data Near-Line Optical/Tape SATA-based RAID Policy driven not technology driven ILM is driving tiered storage Meets new access demands Snapshots & replication of higher RAID levels supported Meets new regulatory requirements Backup Optical/Tape SATA-based VTL Disk based backup vs. tape Meets access time demands Data compression and reduction Additional storage tier Archive Tape (offsite) Tape (offsite) Offsite tape is still the last line of defense for data protection 1

3 The Ascent of Tiered Storage Storage managers balance the business requirements and technical issues of explosive data growth against the daunting budget realities of keeping more and more data online. Tiered storage has been around using different aliases for years. But tiered storage infrastructures are now being deployed to meet growing business and regulatory demands. Tiered storage architectures focus on three key topics: Lowering the cost of near-line storage Protecting data in all storage tiers in the architecture Supporting the access and policy applications to meet business and regulatory needs Storage Tier Mission- Critical Storage Model Enterprise RAID Role of Near-Line Storage in Tiered Storage Architectures Store more with lower costs for online backup Repository for replication data Business- Critical RAID Store more with lower costs for online backup Repository for replication data Departmental Low-cost SAN Low-cost NAS New SAS-based DAS Store more with lower costs for online backup Repository for replication data Near-line Low-cost SAN based on SATA RAID Provide near-line access at a lower cost /TB Meet access demands for business/regulatory needs Repository for replication data Backup VTL based on low cost SATA Disk based backup versus tape Meets access time demands Data compression and reduction Archive Tape (offsite) Offsite tape is still the last line of defense for data protection 2

4 The Emergence of Near-Line SATA II Drives The underlying demands of ILM and tiered storage architectures demand that disk drives deliver cost effectiveness, high performance, high reliability and massive storage capacity. The disk drive industry has responded to these demands with a number of new disk drive technologies. 4 Gb Fibre Channel delivers maximum performance where cost is not a major consideration 3 Gb SAS SAS, which shares a common interface architecture with SATA II, is replacing SCSI with the same levels of performance as those delivered by Fibre Channel, but at a lower cost 3 Gb Near-Line SATA has emerged to combine the lower cost of desktop SATA II with improved shock and vibration mechanicals to provide the best cost/tb and the right level of reliability for ILM and tiered storage applications. Class Interfaces Max Cap RPM Cost/IOPS Cost/TB Reliability SAN 4 Gb FC 300 GB 15/10K Low High Enterprise Server 3 Gb SAS 300 GB 15/10K Low Medium Enterprise Near-line 3 Gb SATA II 750 GB 7.2/10K Medium Low Enterprise The Transition to SAS and Enterprise SATA The disk market is undergoing a fundamental shift because of the introduction of SAS and enterprise SATA II for near-line applications. According to Gartner, over the next three years the use of SAS and enterprise SATA II will grow to comprise 60% of the enterprise disk market. Source: Gartner Disk Report 3

5 The transition to SAS and enterprise SATA is a key enabler of tiered storage architectures. The shared architecture of SAS and SATA II create the opportunity to use both drive types in a single enclosure or chassis to provide the right mix and balance of storage resources for storage managers. The economies of scale due the shared design also help lower the costs of both SAS and SATA II drives. The Advantages of Enterprise SATA II Drives over Desktop SATA II Drives Durability is the advantage that enterprise SATA II disk drives hold over desktop SATA II disk drives. Enterprise SATA II drives provide more robust internal mechanical components and construction, shock prevention and vibration management to improve reliability. In addition, the firmware embedded in enterprise SATA II drives is optimized for networked storage applications (SAN) while desktop SATA drives are optimized for typical desktop applications. Enterprise SATA firmware supports NCQ (Native Command Queuing) that optimizes drive workloads to support higher duty cycles, manages drive timeouts commonly associated with desktop SATA drives and provides online firmware that can be updated via a RAID controller. The key functional benefits of enterprise SATA II are: Enterprise SATA delivers the reliability characteristics demanded by a 7 x 24 operating environment. Desktop SATA drives are far more likely to timeout, reducing performance and occasionally causing RAID 5 arrays to lose fault tolerance and initiate rebuilds. Desktop SATA drives have a MTBF between 0.6 and 1.0 million hours with a duty cycle from 20% to 60% while enterprise SATA drives have an MTBF of 1.4 million hours at a 100% duty cycle. Native Command Queuing (NCQ) standard on the enterprise SATA drives used in ULTA- MUS RAID - increases performance and extends drive life by optimizing head movement. Directed Offline Scan (DOS) monitors every write to every track. Whenever a drive is idle, its firmware performs diagnostic tests to enhance data. Perpendicular Recording increases data density while decreasing moving parts, resulting in a higher drive Adaptive Fly Height delivers consistent read/write performance Clean Sweep automatically calibrates drives at power up SoftSonic motor enables whisper-quiet operation Enhanced G-Force Protection defends against handling damage Reduced rotational vibration Improved Burst Data Rates The 3 Gb/s bandwidth of SATA II can have a significant effect on drive burst performance rates that can range up to 4x the sustained data transfer rate. SATA I drives are burst rate limited by their 1.5 Gb/s interface. ULTAMUS RAID and Enterprise SATA Drives Overland RAID is not just a collection of new technologies, but rather a well-balanced and flexible platform that meets or exceeds the performance, reliability and cost requirements of near-line applications. Overland RAID is a next generation RAID platform that incorporates unique, patent-pending technologies and the latest industry standards. It is ready to help storage managers take advantage of the benefits of the latest drive technologies. Overland RAID is the right platform to support tiered storage and near-line needs. Designed to be a shared SAS and SATA platform, Overland RAID can immediately facilitate tiered storage strategies using combinations of SAS and enterprise SATA drives. Overland's implementation of enterprise SATA II drives in Overland RAID greatly reduces the frequency and duration of drive timeouts, common on desktop SATA, to deliver the ultimate in SAN functionality. 4

6 Summary The transition from SCSI and Fibre Channel drives to SAS and SATA II drives is underway. The transition offers tremendous benefits to storage managers willing to embrace the new technologies. The first step in incorporating these new technologies into your IT infrastructure is a clear understanding of the business drivers. The second step is building the right migration plan so the solution provides immediate benefit without affecting production environments. The third step is choosing a platform that supports tiered application and near-line storage a solution that addresses all your applications needs under the covers of a single box. Overland's industry leadership delivers investment protection to storage buyers through leading-edge, "future proofed" technology. ULTAMUS RAID arms storage managers with the tools they need to implement storage strategies and build IT infrastructures that align with today's and tomorrow's business and data management needs. Technology Benefits Overland Leadership RAID 6 Hardware Accelerated SAS Drives Enterprise SATA II Drives SAS expansion & scalability 4Gb Fibre Channel Snapshots Pricing Higher Availability Higher Performance Lower Costs Investment Protection Higher Availability Higher Availability Higher Performance Better Price/TB Investment Protection Grows with your application requirements Higher Performance Investment Protection Disaster Recovery Data Protection Low Acquisition Cost Better for mission-critical application. Overland's hardware accelerated RAID 6 allows storage to remain online in the event of two drives failing simultaneously. Ideal for , web serving, database and other performance-intensive applications Provides the performance and reliability of Fibre Channel drives at 30% lower cost SAS and SATA II drives can be combined in the same RAID chassis to support applications with vastly different capacity and performance requirements. Better performance for D2D backup and media Built for 7 x 24 operating environments 1.4 million hour MTBF at 100% duty cycle more than double the reliability rating of desktop SATA II drives Directed Offline Scan monitors every write and performs diagnostic tests when drives are idle, enhancing data Perpendicular Recording reduces the number of moving parts, for higher Effortless scalability within minutes, without downtime and without increasing complexity or overhead. No performance penalty Better performance for all applications. 4Gb FC improves IOPS intensive applications with reduced latency and improves streaming application performance with higher data rates Snapshot technology offers the best value in data protection by creating low-impact copies of data that support point-in-time recovery Excellent price/tb for RAID storage Integrated RAID ASIC technology reduces controller costs and an optimized supply chain reduces platform costs. 5

7 ULTAMUS RAID Applications Benefits ULTAMUS RAID is the right platform to make IT applications run faster, with higher and improved ROI. Applications ULTAMUS RAID Features Business Benefit Database Web Servers Video D2D Backup Multipathing for key operating systems 4 Gb/sec host connection provides high data transfer rates and low latency SAS drives provide maximum IOPS (based on 15/10k RPM) at a lower cost than 4Gb/sec FC drives Hardware Accelerated RAID 6 improves data Multipathing for key operating systems 4 Gb/sec host connection provides more consistent data transfers for streaming applications SATA II drives offer the right performance with very high capacities Hardware Accelerated RAID 6 improves data More transactions Lower cost per IOPS Improved operations and lower management cost with higher More data protected online for regulatory requirements Improved cost per TB Improved operations and lower management cost with higher ILM & Tiered Storage Multipathing for key operating systems Shared SAS/SATA II architecture allows for optimizing cost, performance, capacity, and access requirements Single box, many uses Snapshots provide efficient data protection on the right class of storage Investment protection, asset management, and flexibility Lower cost per IOPS and TB Improved operations and lower management cost with higher 6

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